


Slivers in the Soul

by Shugs



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Protectiveness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:48:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28460421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shugs/pseuds/Shugs
Summary: When Castiel receives a distressing prayer from Claire, he drops everything to track her down and figure out what she was hunting when she ran into trouble. Sam, Dean and Jack help narrow down the search but things take a frightening turn when they realize the creature she was hunting not only feeds on souls, but on the energy of scars left within them -Written following 15x13
Comments: 11
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written during the COVID Hiatus following 15x13

Slivers in the Soul  


Sam let out a yawn as he glanced over at the alarm clock on the nightstand beside his bed. It was just past three in the morning. Though he was use to the clanking of pots and pans as Dean rummaged around for a midnight snack, the sound that had awoken him wasn’t coming from the kitchen. He got out of bed and made his way to the door, listening intently as the voices of a distant conversation echoed through the halls. He couldn’t quite hear the exchange of words but the tone of the discussion was enough to make him want to further investigate just what was going on. 

Heading down the corridor in search of the commotion, he peered into Castiel’s empty room as he passed it, and paused briefly by Dean’s closed bedroom door as he reached it. Leaning in just long enough to hear his brother’s soft snores, he now assumed the distant conversation he could hear was between Castiel and Jack. Walking out into the empty main room, his eyes were instantly drawn to the only source of light, a single table lamp that had been left on. He crossed the floor and headed down an adjacent corridor, the voices getting louder and clearer as they led him down the stairs towards the bunker’s vast archives. There, he found Castiel hunched over a cluttered table with Jack sitting in a chair nearby.

Castiel turned slightly to catch the young hunter’s eyes before focusing on the task at hand. “Sam” He stared softly, checking a blade before putting it into the open duffle bag on the table in front of him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Cas, it’s three in the morning.” Sam started as he made his way over to the pair. “What are you doing?”

“Angels don’t sleep.” Jack informed simply as he offered Sam a smile.

“Right, but what are you guys doing?” The hunter asked, eyeing the array of weapons Castiel was gathering.

“I just... I need to go, there’s something I need to take care of.” The angel replied without looking up as he zipped the duffle bag shut. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” 

“What? Go where? Why?” Sam asked, putting a hand out to stop the angel in his tracks. “Cas, what’s going on?” He continued, looking over as Jack stood from his seat to follow.

“It’s Claire, Sam.”Castiel started, his breath catching in the back of his throat. “Something’s wrong, I need to find her.”

“Ok, what’s wrong with Claire?” Sam went on, doing his best to understand the urgency.

“I’m not sure what’s wrong, but she needs my help.” Castiel explained, nervously shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “I can’t explain it, but she prayed to me and I just felt it... I just know something’s wrong. Every call I’ve made goes straight to voice mail.”

“Do you know where she is?” Sam continued, still trying to make sense of the situation he had so few details about. 

“I have an idea.” Castiel replied. “I was able to track the GPS on her phone to a small town about seven hours west of here, a town called Scythe. If I leave now, I can be there by morning.”

“Cas, don’t get me wrong, if she needs help or she’s in trouble I’m there... but a feeling and a few missed calls isn’t a whole lot of info to go on.” Sam said, glancing over the angel’s shoulder to catch Jack’s eyes. “Don’t you think we have bigger problems to deal with right now? I mean we...”

“I didn’t expect you to understand.” Castiel interrupted as his eyes narrowed on the man in front of him. “I know we have bigger problems to deal with right now, but if it were Dean in desperate need of your help, wouldn’t you drop everything to help him?” Castiel asked, brushing past the other man as he made his way across the room, Jack trailing him closely.

“We don’t even know if she’s actually in any trouble.” Sam called out, doing his best to get the angel to take a step back and look at the situation from his perspective. “She may be busy with a case, she might...”

“She prayed for my help.” Castiel growled as he turned to face Sam. “You didn’t hear what I heard in her voice, you didn’t feel the pain, the fear, the despair.” 

“What the hell’s going on?” A semi-awake Dean shouted as he made his way down the stairs. “Do any of you have any idea what time it is?”

“Why is everyone so concerned about what time it is?” Jack asked simply, watching as a clearly irritated Dean made his way over towards them.

“Some of us need sleep to be fully functional human beings in the morning.” Dean snapped back, his eyes darting from the Jack to Castiel and Sam. “What’s going on?” He demanded.

“I need to find Claire.” Castiel answered simply, making his way around both Sam and Dean as he headed for the door.

“It’s three in the morning Cas, I’m going to need a little more information than that to understand what’s going on right now.” Dean said watching as the angel continued down the hall with Jack in toe. “Dude what the Hell?” He asked as he then turned to his brother.

Sam let out a sigh as they followed Castiel and Jack towards the bunker’s garage. “He said she prayed to him and that he can’t get a hold of her; said his calls go straight to voice mail so he tracked her phone to a town seven hours west of here and that he’s driving down there to find her right now.” Sam explained, quickly catching his brother up the best he could with the information he had.

“If Jack looks at cases in the area while I drive through the night, we should be able to figure out what job she was working by the time we get there.” Castiel said as he fished the keys from the pocket of his trench coat. “Might give us a better idea of what type of trouble she’s in and where to start looking.” 

“Ok fine, so give us twenty minutes to pack up and we’ll be ready to hit the road.” Dean replied, watching as Castiel paused in his steps.

The angel shook his head. “I can’t ask that of you, not with...”

“Cas.” Dean cut in, his eyes catching those of the angel in front of him. “Your family is our family, if you think Claire’s in trouble we’ll help you find her.” There was a moment of silence as Dean took a deep breath, doing his best to calm the distraught angel. “Did you call Jody?” He asked as they made their way towards the truck.

Castiel nodded. “Jody said that Claire hadn’t checked in with her it’s been over a week, but figured she just needed some space and time to clear her head after everything that happened with Kaia.” He paused for a moment as he opened the door and tossed his duffle bag into the cab of the truck. “Getting Kaia back was one thing, but finding out that she had never died and that we left her in that other world alone, well that hit Claire pretty hard. Instead of blaming herself for Kaia’s death, now she blames herself for everything she’s been through.”

“So Claire hit the road again, I get that.” Dean said, shrugging as Sam looked over. “What? It’s what I use to do.” He was quick to explain. “She’s going to burry herself in the job until she can deal with the guilt and shit that’s following her around.” He watched as Castiel climbed in behind the wheel and Jack made his way around to the passenger side. “Text us the address of whatever motel you check into once you get there and we’ll catch up.” Dean called out as the angel started to the truck. “And Jack, keep your powers to yourself for now, alright kid?”

Sam reached over to hit the garage door button on the wall next to him as the truck pulled out of its parking space. Watching as the pair drove off into the night, he couldn’t help but think of everything else that was going on around them. “I want her to be ok Dean, I really do, but we have bigger issues to deal with right now then Claire who may or may not be in trouble. Maybe she really does just need some space to process all...”

“And maybe she needs help.” Dean cut in, the sharpness of his voice bouncing off the walls around them. “It’s Claire, Sam. After everything Castiel’s put her through, after everything he’s done to her and her family, I get why he’s going to drop everything for her.” There was a moment of silence and the older man let out a sigh. “Look, God’s going to wipe us off the earth whenever he’s done screwing around with us, what does it matter when it happens or even where? We don’t even have a game plan to deal with that yet.”

“Billie apparently does.” Sam quietly replied, reaching over to hit the button to close the garage door.

“Yeah, well until she’s ready to share it with the rest of us, I’m not going to sit here and wait. I’m going to go out there and do my job.” Dean flashed his younger brother a smile as they turned to make their way back up to the bunker. “If you sleep while I drive and we switch halfway, we should be somewhat presentable and functional by the time we get there in the morning.”

***************************

Castiel swallowed hard as his grip on the steering wheel tightened. The desperation he’d heard in Claire’s voice haunted him and it didn’t matter how hard he tried to push his fears aside, his thoughts always seem to drift back to the worst case scenario.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find her. “Jack started softly, pulling his tablet out to begin scouring the internet for clues on the case Claire may have been working in Scythe. “She’ll be alright.” There was a moment of silence as the angel behind the wheel glanced over to catch his eyes. “I mean, Sam and Dean have been in trouble before and they’ve always made it out ok, in the end. She will too.”

“I truly hope so.” Castiel replied, his words catching in the back f his throat as the young woman’s plea continued to circle in his head. “With everything that’s been going on, I feel like I haven’t checked in on her like I should have.”

“You do know it isn’t your fault, right?” Jack asked, doing his best to understand just what the angel was dealing with.

“I know, but if anything ever happened to her, after everything I took away from her...” He trailed off as the memories came flooding back, memories of a time when he was little more than a soldier and Jimmy Novak was nothing more than a vessel he needed for a mission; a means to walk the earth alongside the man he was sent to retrieve from the depths of Hell. “I just owe her so much.”


	2. Chapter 2

  
Dean let out a groan as a loud, persistent tapping sound pulled him from his sleep. Unable to ignore it, he turned over and saw Jack standing by his window with a tray of takeout coffee in his hands.  
  
“I got coffee!” The younger man said with a smile before turning away.

Half awake, it took a moment for him to realize that he was sleeping in the passenger seat of the Impala, parked next to Castiel’s truck out front some rundown motel. He straightened out, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he stepped out of the car and made his way to the open door of the room he was parked in front of. “You could have woken me when we got here.” He said, his eyes focusing on Sam and Castiel who were sitting across from each other at a small cluttered table.  
  
“Sam said it would be better not to.” Jack informed as he passed the older man a hot cup of coffee.  
  
“I thought you could use the extra sleep while we go over the info Jack looked up on the way over here.” Sam said without looking up from his laptop.  
  
“Find anything weird?” Dean asked as he took a seat on the end of one of the beds.  
  
“Well in the past year alone, there’s been a total of 30 bodies recovered from the surrounding woodland.” Castiel answered as he scribbled down a few notes. “None of the victims were locals or reported missing from this area.”  
  
“That’s a lot of people for some small town that’s barely even on the map.” Dean replied, taking a sip of his coffee.  
  
“Some of the victims who were eventually identified had been missing for weeks, even months before their bodies turned up in the woods.” Sam went on, scanning the local news for any info that stood out. “Thing is, the bodies had been dumped no more than 72 hours before they were found – where these people were for the rest of the time they were missing is still unknown.”  
  
“Ok so out-of-town and held against their will?” Dean wondered out loud, trying to piece together some kind of case that still made no sense. “Scythe is pretty far off the beaten path and to be honest, this town looks like its seen better days. Why are all these people ending up dead here?”  
  
Sam shook his head. “I don’t know, did anything stand out when you looked into it?” He asked as he turned in his seat to face Jack.  
  
“Only the murders and unidentified remains.” Jack was quick to reply.  
  
“Well.” Dean started as he straightened out. “If Claire was just chasing down any case she could find to keep herself busy and distracted, I think this one would have caught her eye. There’s no way a town this small has so many murders without someone knowing something about it. So, what do we know about this town?” He asked.  
  
“From what Jack dug up last night, Scythe was mining town back in the 70’s.” Castiel said as he turned his laptop for Dean to take a look at an old article about the local mining industry. “Eventually, the payload they were pulling from mine wasn’t enough to cover the cost of running the whole operation; the industry went bankrupt, the population plunged and the town went downhill. People who moved here to work were forced to look elsewhere to make ends meet and Scythe never really recovered. It’s practically a ghost town now.”  
  
“A ghost town with an unusually high body count.” Dean added as he stood from the bed. “I say we start at the police station, see if we can figure out what all these people had in common and why they ended up here.”  
  
“I already arranged to meet with the lead detective on the case.“ Sam said as he stood from his chair. “He’s agreed to let us look over whatever files we need if it’ll help with the investigation. As far as he’s concerned, there’s a serial killer on the loose.”  
  
“Why don’t you and Jack head over to the police station while Cas and I try to see if we can narrow down the last location Claire’s phone sent out a signal from.” Dean said as he made his way over to the table and took a seat across from Castiel.

“Sounds like a plan.” Sam replied as he watched Dean pull his laptop over. “Let me know what you guys find.” He continued, grabbing the keys to the truck from the dresser nearby.

There was a lot of valuable information to be gained from tracking down a cell signal and pulling the GPS from it, the sooner he could find it, the faster they could start retracing Claire’s movements. Dean looked up as he started typing away, his eyes catching Castiel’s lost stare. “What?” He asked simply, turning his attention back to the keyboard in front of him.   
  
“Thank you.” The angel replied simply, watching as the other man paused for only a moment to look back up.  
  
“Any time, Cas... all you need to do is ask.”  
  


* * *

  
Sam eyed the small building as they pulled into the parking lot, much like the rest of the town, the station looked like it had seen better days. He got out of the truck with Jack following him closely, the younger man adjusting his tie as they headed into the station. Walking in, it was hard to miss the various posters that covered a bulletin board, most of them composite sketches and computer generated images of various unidentified victims. The Sheriff stood from his desk as the pair approached, F.B.I badges in hand.  
  
“Morning Sheriff.” Sam started with a smile as Jack made his way over to the bulletin board to have a closer look at the posters. “We spoke on the phone earlier, about the unsolved murders.” He said, getting straight to the point.  
  
“Yes, thank you so much for your assistance looking into the matter. With such a small town, our resources’ are pretty limited.” The Sheriff was quick to reply, reaching behind him to grab a large file off his desk. “Here is a copy of all the cases we think are related.” He continued watching as Sam flipped through the folder in his hands. “It’s a little out of our league, I mean the past year has been one body after another.”  
  
“These people.” Jack started, gesturing to the posters as he made his way over towards the pair. “None of them are missing from the area?”  
  
“We’ve gone over every missing person in our county from the past decade; none of them match the victims found in the woods.” The Sheriff said, eyeing the posters. “All we can do is send the information we have to other departments all over the country and hope that someone somewhere puts two and two together. We’ve had some luck identifying some of the victims, but as you can tell... not much.”  
  
“Is there anything about Sychthe that would draw folks from out of town?” Sam asked, passing the large file to Jack.  
  
The Sheriff shook his head. “Not really no, the new interstate by-passes Scythe all together. The only thing keeping this town alive is a Motel, a few small shops a diner and a cheap gas station. The only reason people hop off the interstate to come into town is to gas up and maybe get a bite to eat.” 

“Did the victims all have similar causes of death?” Jack asked as he flipped through autopsy photos.  
  
The Sheriff nodded. “Most were found with physical signs of trauma; burns, abrasions, bruising from what we assume were some type of restraints around the wrist and emaciated in almost all cases. All were found in the wooded area surrounding Sycthe.”  
  
“What do you mean by most of them?” Sam asked.  
  
“Well, we’re not sure if it’s related to this case or not yet. I’m still waiting to hear from the medical examiner, but the last two victims were found almost a week ago with stab wounds to the chest. No I.D on either victims, both female between the ages of twenty and thirty.”  
  
Sam’s heart dropped to the bottom of his stomach, he cleared his throat. “The bodies are still at the morgue then?” He asked, doing his best to keep the words from catching in the back of his throat as the feeling of dread started creeping up on him.  
  
“Yes sir, the hospital is just a few blocks over from here. I can give the Coroner a call to let him know you’re on your way if you’d like to go down and have a look.”  
  
“That would be great, thank you.” Jack answered with a smile. He glanced over as Sam offered a simple nod, the other man obviously shaken by the possibility that one of the recent victims might be the woman they were looking for. “It might not be related at all, but we need to find out.”  
  


* * *

  
“Ok so from the cell records we pulled up, we know Claire never actually made it into town and her cell signal hasn’t changed locations in the last week.” Dean said, letting the steering wheel slide through his fingers as the Impala followed the curves in the road. “That tells us her cell phone is either still in the same place or that’s the last place it was before she either turned it off or the battery died.” Dean explained, glancing over as Castiel studied the map on his phone. “How close are we?”   
  
Castiel glanced up for only a moment before focusing on his phone once again. “Should be just around this next corner on the left.” He replied as Dean started to slow down. When they came to a bend in the road, Castiel pointed to a small dirt road leading into the woods. “In there, about 100 yards.” He said as he pointed the way.  
  
Turning off the main road, Dean headed down a smaller dirt road before pulling up to a locked barricade. The site wasn’t visible from the main road and he was surprised to have reached a gate out in the middle of nowhere. He put the Impala in park and pulled the keys from the ignition, eyeing the large lock and chain that were hanging from the gate. “In there?” He asked as he turned to catch the angel’s eyes.

Castiel nodded. “Yeah.” He replied simply. “Looks like an old mine site.”  
  
Stepping out of the car, the pair studied the large clearing that lay just beyond the tree line. Old mining equipment was scattered around the site, most of it reduced to rusted waste by the years gone by. At the far end of the clearing a cluster of old cabins could be seen while a large headframe towered over trees in the distance. Ignoring the ‘Private Property’ and ‘ No Tresspassing’ signs that hung from the gate, they walked around it and made their way to the clearing. While Dean was eyeing the old cabins, Castiel was eying a field of derelict cars and assorted equipment to their right. “Over there.” He said, pulling Dean’s attention away from the abandoned miner cabins.  
  
“Not sure what she was hunting, but there’s plenty of places for something to hide.” Dean remarked, looking around the large site that was far from view, tucked away from the main road. As the pair headed off to the side of the large clearing, they walked out into an overgrown field of cars parked idle and left to rot. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this place Cas” Dean started as they walked the rows of cars one by one. “I don’t think she would have come snooping around here by herself.”  
  
Castiel stopped dead in his tracks as he spotted Claire’s car parked at the end of one of the rows. “Dean.” He said, his voice barely above a whisper as he pointed out the car to the other man.  
  
Dean swore under his breath as they made their way over to Claire’s car. The keys were still in the ignition, the windshield was shattered and there was blood all over the driver’s seat. He looked up as Castiel pulled her backpack from the backseat and quickly opened it up to pull out her cell phone.  
  
“Dean, everything’s still here.” He said, rummaging around the young woman’s car looking for clues.  
  
“We’ll figure it out, we’ll find her Cas.” Dean reassured, doing his best not to let his own fears surface. “Let me call Sam and let him know we found her car, we’re going to need more manpower to search this whole area.” He pulled his phone from his pocket as he watched Castiel continue to go through Claire’s car looking for anything that could help them figure out what happened. Just as he was about to pull Sam’s number from his contact list, his phone rang. “Sammy, we found her car.” He started. “I don’t know what happened, but I don’t like where this is going.”  
  
Sam swallowed hard as he eyed the bodies on the examiner’s table in front of him _. “I don’t either.”_ He was quick to reply, sucking in a shallow breath. _“Dean, Claire’s dead.”_  
  



	3. Chapter 3

Dean's heart sank like stone. "What?" He asked, swallowing the lump caught in his throat as he watched Castiel continue to go through the young woman's car.   
  
_"Claire's dead, Dean."_ Sam went on, passing a hand through his hair as he turned away from the woman on the stainless steel table in front of him. _"I'm at the morgue with Jack, and Claire's one of Scythe's Jane Does, her body was found in the woods about a week ago. Before we do anything else, I think we need to figure out what she was hunting and why she was..."_   
  
"What happened?" Dean asked, silencing his brother mid sentence. "There's blood all over the driver's seat of her car."   
  
Sam swallowed hard as he watched Jack pull the white sheet up to cover the young woman's face. _"She was stabbed in the chest."_ He replied quietly, the reality of it all still sinking in. _"We have a copy of the detective's case files, meet us back at the motel and we'll go through them to see if anything stands out. There's gotta be something about all these victims that can help us figure out what she was hunting."_   
  
"What am I supposed to tell Cas?" Dean whispered, turning his back to the angel. "He's not going to want to leave now that we found her car, Sam."  
  
 _"Lie, tell him whatever you need to, just get him back to the motel."_ Sam was quick to reply. _"We need to figure out what we're up against before we do anything else."_   
  
Dean swore under his breath as he hung up the phone and turned to face the angel. The news would be devastating and there was just no way for him to soften that kind of blow. The look on his face must have said it all, because when their eyes met, he knew Castiel had seen right through him. There was no way he could lie to the angel, not when he was doing all he could not to fall apart in front of him.  
  
"Dean what is it?" Castiel asked, straightening out as the hunter made his way around the car to join him. When he didn't get a reply, the panic began to set it. "Dean..." He hissed, the urgency in his voice now demanding an answer.  
  
"Sam and Jack found her." Dean started quietly, his words barely coming together. "She's dead. She's dead Cas, I'm sorry."   
  
Castiel shook his head, his eyes drifting from the man in front of him to the blood stained front seat of the young woman's car. "No, she's not dead." He replied drily, grabbing her packsack from the backseat of the car and tossing it over his shoulder. "She can't be, she prayed to me just last night."  
  
Dean watched as the angel turned his attention from the car in front of them, to the nearby cabins at the mine site. Castiel's denial was just as hard for him to deal with as finding out Claire's fate. "Cas, listen to me..." He started quietly, reaching out to place a hand on the angel's shoulder, forcing him to turn around. "I know it's hard and you don't want to believe it, I don't either, but Sam said she was found almost a week ago. He wants us to go back the motel, we need to go over her case file to see what matches with all the other vic..."  
  
"She's not dead." Castiel repeated, the tone of his voice enough to instantly silence the other man. "I know you don't understand and I can't make you understand, but you need to believe me. Trust me, please." He pleaded, his tone softening slightly. "Claire's not dead. She's here somewhere, I can feel it." Their eyes locked for only a moment before the angel turned away. "You need to trust me."  
  
Dean couldn't help but follow as Castiel crossed the field and made his way back towards the large clearing. He knew there was nothing he could say that would change the angel's mind and get him back to the motel, but still he had to try. "We don't even know what we're dealing with at this point, Cas. We should go back to the motel and try to figure out what she was hunting."  
  
"Go if you want, but I'm not leaving." Castiel replied simply, coming to a stop as they reached the row of old cabins. He studied them carefully before dropping Claire's duffle bag at his feet and pulling out his angel blade. "She's here somewhere."   
  
Dean eyed the cabins for a moment before pulling the gun from the back of his belt. Every instinct he had was telling him this was a bad idea, but the determination in the angel's voice had him doubting the news Sam broke to him over the phone. Against his better judgment, he followed Castiel up to the first cabin on the right, his grip on the gun tightening as they reached the bottom of the stairs. Though the mine had shut down years ago, the large cabins that once served as home to dozens of miners were still in relatively good shape. Making their way up the steps onto the small porch, Castiel made his way to the door while Dean peered into one of the windows. "I don't see anything." He whispered, watching as the angel pulled off the padlock that had been attached to the outside of the door.   
  
The old floor boards creaked under their feet as they stepped into the main room, their eyes scanning every inch of the place for anything lurking in the shadows. There was a large woodstove and kitchenette in one corner of the room and a small simple bathroom in the other. The center of the room was divided by a counter, with an old couch and broken tv on one side, and a large table and a few chairs on the other. While large windows on all sides of the main room offered some light, the straight hallway leading to the bedrooms opposite the door was left in the dark. Dean instantly made his way to the stove in the corner as Castiel walked over to the table. "This is still warm." He whispered, putting a hand out to feel the radiating heat. "Someone's been staying here for sure."  
  
"The door was locked from the outside." Castiel pointed out, studying the empty beer bottles and assorted trash that covered the table. "They haven't been staying here, so much as being kept. Come here take a look at this..." Dean made his way over to the angel and watched as Castiel used the tip of his angel blade to turn over a scrap of bloody cloth. Underneath, practically glued to the table by dry blood was a driver's license. "This man." Castiel quietly started. "He was one of the victims Jack found while we were researching possible cases in this area."   
  
"If he was being kept here, maybe there's more." Dean replied, eyeing the darkened hallway for a moment before loading the gun in his hand. "C'mon." He whispered, knowing they had just stumbled upon something big. The hallway was narrow and dark with three doors on each side and one at the end. Quietly, he led Castiel down the hall and paused by the first door on the left, which was open.   
  
The room was small and typical of workers sleeping quarters in a mining camp. There were two simple beds with matching dressers between them, and a small window above that had been boarded shut. Aside from the bedding having been pulled from one of the beds into a mound on the floor and the window boarded shut, nothing really caught their eye. "You take the ones on the right, I'll go left." He whispered, pointing down the hall. Castiel gave him a nod as he watched Dean make his way to the next door.  
  
Angel blade in hand, he turned to the closed door behind him and quietly turned the knob, pushing the door wide open the second it unlatched. The room was no different than the first one they looked at with matching beds and dressers, but unlike the first one, trash and debris littered the floor. He studied the mess for only a moment and, seeing nothing of concern moved onto the next closed door. He looked up as Dean came out of one of the rooms ahead of him.   
  
"Anything?" Dean whispered, looking back down the hall. When Castiel shook his head no, he continued to the last door on his side. He paused in front of it as the old floor boards creaked under his feet. He'd been in plenty of rundown, abandoned buildings to know what felt normal and something about this place, just didn't feel normal to him. It was a sixth sense or a gut feeling he just couldn't shake. He turned the knob slowly and pushed the door open, his eyes instantly drawn to the shapeless mound covered with a blanket on one of the small beds. A chain was wrapped around the headboard with what looked like a set of handcuffs attached to it.  
  
He cautiously made his way over, taking notice of the discarded stained bandages on the floor by the dresser. Reaching the foot of the bed he grabbed the bed sheet and pulled it back, swearing to himself as it revealed the lifeless body of a young man. When the sound of the creaking floor echoed in the room, he turned on the spot. He was expecting to see Castiel standing at the door, but instead came face to face with a stranger. Before he had time to raise his gun, one hand clamped down around his wrist, forcing the weapon down as the other one wrapped around his throat.

* * *

  
Castiel pushed the next door open and was taken by surprise when a young woman quickly sat up on the bed. She was disheveled, her clothes blood stained and torn and the look on her face was one of pure fear. "I'm here to help." He whispered, tucking his angel blade away as he slowly approached.  
  
"No, stay away from me." She pleaded, fighting against the handcuff that was securing her to the bed. The more he approached her, the more she tried to get away from him. "No, just leave me alone, get away from me!"  
  
Much like a wild animal caught in a leg trap, her hardwired fight or flight instincts were the only thing keeping her going. Though she fought fiercely to free herself and get away from him, the angel could tell she was beyond exhausted. "I'm here to help." He repeated softly, reaching over to the headboard as she scrambled to get as far away as she could from him. When he grabbed the closed handcuff that was keeping her locked to the bed and simply snapped it off, she suddenly froze. He was expecting her to dart out of the room the moment she was free, but instead she backed into the wall behind her. Their eyes locked for only a moment before she took a nervous look at the open door behind him.  
  
"How did you do that?" She asked, still watching his every move. Castiel offered what he could of a smile but didn't give her an answer.   
  
"Here, let me get that one off." He reached out to her but paused as she quickly pulled away from him. "I'm not going to hurt you." He reassured. "I'm going to get you out here." When she slowly extended her hand to him, he broke off the handcuff that was dangling from her bruised wrist. "I'm looking for someone, do you know if others are being kept here?"   
  
"People come and go so often, I lost track." She replied simply, once again eyeing the open door behind him. "Get me out of here, please." She said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I don't even know where I am... please just get me out of here."   
  
Castiel swallowed hard, the fear he heard in her voice was the same he had heard in Claire's. "C'mon , can you get up?" He said, watching as she stood from the bed and took a few shaky steps towards him. He peered out into the hall and noticed the other open doors but couldn't see Dean. "There's a black car parked at the front gate, go wait there while I get my friend." He'd barely finished his sentence; she was practically down the hall and out the front door, making it obvious to him that whatever happened had left her shaken to the core. He pulled his angel blade back out and continued down the hall, taking notice of the unsettling silence that now met him. "Dean?" He called out, eyeing the last bedroom door. When he didn't get a reply, he cautiously made his way over, pausing in the doorway to peer into the room. "Dean?" He called out again, his voice echoing eerily in the silence that surrounded him. He swore under his breath, glancing back down the hall towards the main room. Had Dean made his way back towards the front of the cabin, he would have walked by the bedroom the young woman had been found in. Something was wrong.   
  
His grip on the blade tightened as a door leading outside at the very end of the hall swung open in the breeze. Half expecting to see the other man walk through that door, he was blindsided when Dean came up behind him and plunged a blade into his lower left side.


	4. Chapter 4

The pain was overwhelming and instant. Castiel turned on the spot, his angel blade falling to the floor as both hands now wrapped around Dean’s wrist to pull the blade he was clutching out and away from his side. He quickly pushed the other man away but had little time to steady himself as Dean took a sudden step forward. “Dean...”  
  
With the blood soaked blade tight in his grip, Dean slammed his forearm into Castiel’s chest, pinning him against the wall as his free hand wrapped around the angel’s throat.  
  
The moment Castiel felt that hand press into his neck, was the moment all air escaped his lungs. Within seconds, the pain in his side paled in comparison, he was gasping for breath, his body burning with each attempt he made to get Dean’s hand away. The harder he fought to free himself, the more Dean leaned into him to keep him pinned to the wall. His vision began to blur as everything around him started fading to black, he could feel his body giving up and start to shut down. He was sure this was it for him and didn’t even know what had actually happened to other man or what had taken over him in the few minutes they were apart.  
  
Putting all he had left into staying focused on not passing out, he was caught off guard when a painful jolt chorused through his body like lightning. His Grace surged, setting off an electrifying reaction unlike anything he’d ever felt before. It was sudden, it was intense and by the look on the other man’s face; he’d felt it too and it had taken him by surprise. The grip around his throat loosened and in the moment of distraction, Castiel was able to push the other man off of him. He grabbed his angel blade from the floor and straightened out the best he could, gasping for breath and reeling from the electric shock that had suddenly washed over him.  
  
The other man took a quick step back, the confusion clearly visible on his face. Their eyes met for only a moment before Dean turned on the spot and headed back down the hall towards the open door. There was nothing Castiel wanted to do more than go after him and get to the bottom of whatever had just happened, but he knew another such encounter would be too much for him. He swallowed hard, reaching up to the stab wound in his side with a shaky hand to feel the warmth of his own blood as it seeped through his fingers. Something was wrong, he couldn’t heal the wound. Keeping pressure to it he made his way back out the front door and staggered back to the Impala where he was met by the young woman he had freed before his run in with Dean. He noticed that the car was running before he noticed the trunk was open and that she was standing there with a gun in her hands.  
  
“Who are you and where are Sam & Dean.” She demanded, watching as he made his way over, leaning heavily against the hood just to keep himself up. “You’re hurt...”  
  
“I’m fine.” Castiel lied, placing the angel blade he was still holding on the hood of the car as he lifted the side of his shirt to take a look at the open wound. “How’d you start the car without a key?” He asked simply, looking up to catch her eyes for only a moment before focusing on the wound he just couldn’t seem to heal.  
  
“You’ve got your secrets, I’ve got mine.” She was quick to reply. “Now who are you and where are Sam & Dean.” She repeated. As she watched him straighten out and grab his blade from the hood, she loaded the gun.  
  
“Castiel, my name is Castiel. Dean and I came here looking for someone.” He started, still trying to catch his breath and wrap his head around what had just happened inside the miner’s cabin. “I lost sight of him when I found you in that room, then he just came after me out of nowhere.”  
  
“It wasn’t Dean, it just looked like him.” She said. Satisfied with his answer she lowered the gun, watching as he staggered over towards the driver’s side of the car. “No way you can drive like that... get in the other side.” She started, making her way to the back of the Impala to shut the open trunk. “We need to get you to a hospital.”  
  
“Just take me back to the motel, in Scythe.” Castiel replied, slowly making his way around to the passenger’s side of the car. “Sam is there and Jack, they’ll be able to help me.” He winced in pain as he pulled the door open and slumped down into the seat, watching as she slid in behind the wheel next to him. “Are you a hunter?”  
  
She glanced over at him for only a moment before pulling the seat forward and then putting the Impala in reverse. “No, but I know the life.” She replied simply, backing down the narrow road. “My name’s Krissy.”  
  
“How long were you kept in that room?” Castiel asked softly, pressing a hand to his side.  
  
“About three weeks.” She replied as she backed out onto the main road and started heading back towards the small town of Scythe. She had one eye on the road but the other was on the man slouched down in the seat next to her. “You okay?” She asked, just trying to keep him awake and conscious.  
  
Castiel swallowed hard as he pulled himself into a better sitting position. He gave her a nod but knew she didn’t believe him. “Just get me back to the motel in town, please.” With one hand still pressed tight against the wound in his side, he reached into his pocket to grab his cell phone with the other. He could barely see what he was typing as he sent Sam a quick text to let him know they were on their way back.  
  


* * *

  
Sam stood from his seat at the small cluttered motel table when he finally heard the Impala pull up outside. His mind was racing as he tucked the gruesome crime scene photos back into their file and shut the folder that lay open on top of the pile. Breaking the news of Claire’s death to Dean had been hard, but he couldn’t imagine how much harder it was for his brother to break that same news to Castiel. His heart was in his throat as the idling engine shut off. As if Claire’s death hadn’t hit hard enough, now he had to tell his brother that she wasn’t the only victim he had been able to identify. Krissy Chambers had been the other. He opened the door and froze as he watched the woman he’d seen dead in the morgue no more than an hour ago, step out from behind the wheel of his brother’s car. “Krissy” He started, glancing over his shoulder as Jack joined him. He was still in disbelief as he made his way to her and she rushed into his arms for a hug.  
  
Krissy couldn’t help but hang onto him, for the first time in weeks she knew she was safe. The emotional toll of the whole ordeal finally caught up to her and she couldn’t help but let the tears she’d been fighting to hold back, fall.  
  
There were so many questions going through Sam’s head at that moment, but there was only one that managed to come out. “Where’s Dean?”  
  
She pulled away from the hug and did the best she could to compose herself. “He’s at an old mine site just outside of town.” She started, brushing the tears away with the back of her hand. “I don’t know what happened, but they must have taken him.” Sam looked over her shoulder as Jack pulled the Impala’s passenger door open, putting a hand out to push Castiel back into the car. “He fought with one of them, he’s hurt pretty bad but he didn’t want to go to the hospital, he wanted me to bring him back here.” She paused for a moment as she watched Sam make his way over to the Impala. “I didn’t know what else to do....”  
  
Jack stood as Sam knelt down in front of the angel slouched in the passenger seat. “Cas?” He called out, trying to get the barely conscious angel’s attention. “Cas...” When he reached out and placed a hand under the other man’s chin to tilt his head up, Castiel flinched.  
  
“We need to go find Dean.” He whispered as he tried to sit up.  
  
“Not like that.” Sam was quick to reply, reaching into the car to wrap an arm around the angel’s waist. “C’mon, let’s bring you inside and have a look at you.” He said, hoisting Castiel up and carefully walking him over to their motel room. Even without seeing the wound, Sam could tell it was bad. He set Castiel down gently on one of the beds before turning to Jack . “Grab a wet towel from the bathroom.” He said as he pushed the blood soaked trench coat aside and started to unbutton the lower half of Castiel’s dress shirt. “Krissy, there’s a first aid kit in my duffle bag, on the floor by the table.”  
  
Castiel cringed as Sam carefully peeled back the blood drenched fabric that clung to his skin. “I can’t heal it, Sam.” He whispered, looking up as Jack handed the other man the damp towel he’d asked for. When Sam pressed the towel up to his side, he couldn’t help but swear under his breath, pain radiating from the puncture wound with even the slightest touch.  
  
“Sorry.” Sam said quietly, catching the angel’s eyes for only a moment before focusing on the wound again. “Do you know what caused it? Did you see what...”  
  
“I think it might have been an angel blade.” Castiel quickly replied, sucking in a sharp breath as Sam pulled the towel away. “But I’m not sure.”  
  
“An angel blade?” Krissy asked, setting the first aid kit down on the bed next to Sam.  
  
Sam offered the young woman a quick smile. “Yeah, remind me to fill you in on that later.” He said simply, turning his attention back to the angel in front of him.  
  
“Maybe I can help.” When Jack reached out to him, Castiel put a hand out to stop him.  
  
“No, we can’t risk giving your position away to Chuck.” The injured angel replied. “You use your powers, he’s going to find you and know...”  
  
“I don’t use them and you die.” Jack interrupted, instantly silencing the other man. “He’s off world anyway, this won’t require much to heal.”  
  
Sam felt his heart hit the bottom of his stomach. “Is it that bad?” He asked, looking up as Jack took a seat on the bed next to him.  
  
“This wound; the weapon that caused it and whomever or whatever was holding it triggered some kind of reaction.” Jack explained as he carefully examined the injury. “I can feel it, the damage is in your soul, in your grace. Cas if you can’t heal it and I don’t, this is going to kill you.”  
  
When the angel shook his head Sam swallowed hard. “Cas, I need your help to find Dean, we need your help to deal with everything else going on around us right now. Please...”  
  
Castiel caught Sam’s eyes for only a moment before turning to Jack and giving him a quick nod. With the pain radiating from his side getting harder to deal with, he knew there was no other choice. He was fighting just to stay conscious and was running out of time. He sucked in a breath, his head falling back on the bed as Jack reached out to place a hand over the wound in his side. Within seconds the pain that had left him withering subsided, and he was no longer struggling to stay awake. Jack offered a smile as their eyes met and Sam couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief, placing the bloody towel on the night stand table beside him.  
  
Krissy took a step back. “Ok what the Hell is going on?” She asked, watching as Castiel sat up, passing a hand over where the stab wound had been only moments ago. “You snapped the handcuff off my wrist like it was nothing, and you... you can heal wounds?”  
  
Sam offered a smile as he stood from the bed and turned to face her. “Castiel is an angel, and so is Jack.”  
  
“Mostly.” Jack added as he too stood from the bed. “Here I can heal your cuts as well.” When he reached out to her, she took a step back.  
  
“I’m sorry, I just need a minute.” She was quick to reply, nervously eyeing Sam. “The last few weeks have been hard, to say the least.”  
  
“Krissy why don’t you go clean up, take a nice hot shower.” Sam said softly with a smile as he pointed her towards the motel bathroom. “We’ll find you some clean clothes and something to eat, then maybe you can fill us in on what happened and maybe what we’re up against.”  
  
She nodded as her eyes drifted from Sam, back to Castiel and Jack. “Yeah, ok.” She replied, still unsure of what she had just witnessed.  
  


* * *

  
When Dean’s eyes opened, the first thing he noticed was the light piercing through the cracked boards and the large metal beams that crisscrossed their way up the tall shaft he was in. He let out a groan as he rolled from his back to his side, the large headframe at the mine site coming to mind as he studied the pulleys and machinery that cluttered the dilapidated structure surrounding him. It took him a moment to realize he was lying on a rough wooden floor with little more than a chain and a pile of blankets on the floor beside him. The last thing he remembered was getting jumped in one of the small rooms. Next thing he knew there was a hand around his throat and what felt like the electric jolt of a stun gun rush right through his chest. Eyeing an old table that stood just out of reach, he could see his jacket and the contents of his pockets. He swore under his breath when he realized there was a handcuff locked around his wrist, the other end clamped down around a metal pipe on the wall behind him. “What the...” He pulled at it for a moment before sitting up, his chest tightening as he sucked in a breath.  
  
Castiel was nowhere in sight, but he knew he wasn’t alone. Eyeing the sheets on the floor beside him, he carefully reached over to pull them apart, his heart jumping to his throat the moment he recognized the bloodstained face. “Claire...”  
  



	5. Chapter 5

Sam cleared his throat to get Castiel’s attention from the files that covered the motel table between them. He handed the angel the folder he’d picked up from the coroner that morning. “Here, take a look for yourself.” He said, swallowing hard.  
  
Castiel took the folder from Sam and opened it up to go over the investigation reports of the two Jane Doe’s that had been found in the woods the week before. He felt his heart sink like a stone as he eyed the photo of Claire on the medical examiner’s stainless steel table. On a second table next to her, was Krissy Chambers. “Shifters?” He suggested as he looked up to catch the other man’s eyes. “That would explain why Dean attacked me back at the mine, I did lose sight of him, so it may very well have been a Shapeshifter.”   
  
Sam shrugged, passing a hand through his hair. “That still doesn’t explain why you couldn’t heal the wound yourself or whatever reaction Jack said you had to it.”   
  
“We need to speak with Krissy.” Castiel started quietly, eyeing the closed bathroom door across the room. “She’s got to be able to shed some light on what happened, or at least have more details so we can figure out what we’re dealing with.”  
  
“We will.” Sam reassured. “Let’s just wait for Jack to come back with some lunch and we’ll see if she’s willing to tell...” Sam trailed off as the bathroom door opened a crack.  
  
“Sam?” Krissy called out, clutching her towel closed as she eyed the pair sitting at the table. “Can you come here for a second?”

“Uh, yeah sure.” Sam cleared his throat as he made his way towards the door; he was still looking back at Castiel when he reached it. “Everything ok?” He asked, not really sure where exactly his eyes should be as she pushed the door open and turned her back to him.  
  
“What is this?” She asked, reaching down the back of her shoulder blade to feel the large gash in her skin. “I feel like there’s actually something in there.”  
  
When she pushed her wet hair over her shoulder, Sam’s eyes immediately fell on the cuts and gashes that covered her upper back. “Um, yeah those look pretty bad.” Sam started, making a quick motion for her to turn around. “Do they hurt?” He asked, tugging her towel down a bit lower to study a long gash that looked swollen and infected.   
  
“Some hurt a lot more than others.” She replied, glancing past him into the room as Castiel stood from the table and made his way over.  
  
“Do you remember what happened?” He continued, looking up as Castiel stopped in the doorway next to him and placed the first aid kit on the sink in front of them.  
  
“The night I got attacked, one of those things pinned me to the ground... he had his arm on my back to hold me down and next thing I knew, it was like I got kicked in the chest.” Krissy explained, wincing as Sam pressed a finger to her skin. “I woke up handcuffed to a bed in that room, never saw the same person come through that door twice.”  
  
“Is that why you were so afraid of me when I approached you in that room?” Castiel asked simply, eyeing the wounds from over Sam’s shoulder.   
  
She nodded, wincing again as Sam placed a hand against her back. “These things, I don’t know what they are but they’re not Shapeshifters they don’t shed their skin, they just morph into someone else.” She paused for a moment as Sam turned to Castiel, asking for a knife and tweezers from the small first aid kit. “They change so fast.”

“What did they do with you once they had you locked up?” Sam asked, pausing as he felt her tense up. “You alright?” He asked, his finger passing over something under the skin.  
  
“They tried to keep me comfortable, like they wanted to keep me alive.” Krissy started, trying to recall anything that really stood out about the last three weeks she’d spent in captivity. “When they’d come for me, when they’d touch me, it was like I was getting the life pulled from me.” She swore under her breath as she felt the cold steel blade pressed into the gash in her back.  
  
“Just hang on, almost got it.” Sam calmly replied, carving something out of one of the deep gashes in her back. He set his bloody knife down on the vanity in front of them as he grabbed a facecloth with one hand and a pair of tweezers with the other. “Deep breath.” He told her, catching her eyes in the mirror for only a moment before turning his attention back to the wound. “Just take a deep breath...” Grabbing the end sticking out of her skin, he teased a three inch spike from the wound in her back, setting it down on the sink as he quickly used the facecloth to apply pressure to the gash. “Any idea what that is Cas?”   
  
Krissy watched as the other man reached over to grab what looked like a three inch spike from the sink. He examined it carefully, reaching over the vanity to rinse off the blood as Sam grabbed a bandage and some tape from the first aid kit. “It appears to be a thorn of some kind, a barb or stinger perhaps?”  
  
“Like from a Wraith? “Sam suggested as he bandaged the wound on Krissy’s back. “It could be I guess, but I’ve never seen one quite like this.”  
  
Castiel shook his head. “Neither have I.”   
  
“Ok, you’re ready to go.” Sam said as he turned the faucet on and rinsed her blood from his hands. “Jack should be back with something to eat soon, if you want to finish getting ready.” He gave her a quick smile as he grabbed his knife and wiped the blood off with a towel. “We’ll see if we can dig anything up on whatever that is.”  
  


* * *

  
Dean reached over to brush the hair from her face, she was in bad shape but Castiel was right, she was alive. “Claire?” He started, pushing the sheet off of her with his free hand. He took a quick look around the room before focusing on the cuts and gashes that covered her arms. “Claire...” He repeated, this time reaching out to tilt her head up slightly. She pulled away from him but smiled as her eyes finally opened. “Hey kid.”   
  
“Wow, you know they’re good if they caught you too.” She quietly replied. “How’d you find me?”  
  
“Cas heard your prayer.” He paused for a moment as the sight of blood in her car flashed in the back of his mind. “Claire, what happened to you?” He quietly started. “I mean, Sam and Jack identified your body at the morgue this morning...”  
  
“Yeah that wasn’t me.” She cut in, letting the smile creep up from the corner of her lips. She winced in pain as she pulled herself off the floor into a sitting position. “There were these two girls by a car on the side of the road coming into Scythe, I pulled over to see if everything was ok and got jumped. One put her hand around my throat and all of a sudden, she turned into me. Next thing I knew, it was like I got kicked in the chest and had the wind knocked out of me. She pulled a knife on me, cut me once but I managed to kill that one and the brunette she was with. I got back in my car but a tow truck pulled up behind me, they weren’t alone.”  
  
“What were you doing in Sycthe?” Dean asked, looking around for anything he could us to pick the lock on the handcuff clamped around his wrist. “Were you out here working a case?” There was a moment of silence and he looked up to catch her eyes. “Hey, I get it... you just needed to get away for a bit, keep busy right?”   
  
She offered a nod as she sucked in breath. “Yeah I guess you could say that” She replied, her thoughts drifting back to the guilt that hit her when she found out they’d left Kaia alone in another world. “Guess I screwed up, huh?” She continued, gesturing to the handcuff clamped around her wrist.  
  
“Well you and me both.” Dean was quick to reply, the other end of his handcuff clanking on the metal bar behind him as he gave it a tug. “Any idea what you were hunting?” He asked. “Cause we didn’t figure that out yet.”  
  
She shook her head. “No, I thought they were Shifter’s at first, but when I saw it change right in front of me, I knew it was something different all together. When they first brought me here, they kept me locked up in the cabins with the others, but then they moved me here to keep a better eye on me.”   
  
Dean looked over as she motioned up to the camera perched in the beams above them. “Son of a bitch, they probably saw us coming if they’ve got cameras on the place.” He said, looking around to see if he could spot anything else.  
  
“I don’t know where they’re watching from, but I picked the lock and didn’t get far before...” She paused as she watched Dean bring a hand up to his chest, the pain and discomfort clearly visible on his face. “That feeling, that tightness in your chest, it doesn’t last long, but it doesn’t go away either.”  
  
Dean swallowed hard, swearing under his breath as a sharp pain suddenly washed over him. Had he not been sitting, it would have brought him down to his knees. When the shockwave subsided he was gasping for air. “What the Hell?”   
  
“That feeling right there, that white-hot pain...” Claire started, looking on as Dean tried to catch his breath and slow his racing heart. “I think these things are feeding off our souls.”  
  
“How the hell are they feeding on my soul when they aren’t even around?” Dean groaned, leaning back against the wall behind him.  
  
“With this.” Claire replied, lifting the bottom of her shirt to expose a gash along her abdomen with something dark embedded in her skin. “They have a bone-like barb, in the palm of their hand that they inject under the skin, they can feed whenever they want.”  
  
Dean studied her large gash carefully, his hand now reaching over the back of his own shoulder to examine a sore spot he’d been ignoring. “So I have one too.” He said, his fingers pressing into the wound searching for the foreign body under his skin. “That’s just gross...” He remarked, finally finding what it was he was looking for. He pressed and teased it until he could feel it move, painfully inching its way out like a large dull sliver.  
  
“When they realize you got it out, they’ll just put another one in somewhere else.” Claire said, watching as Dean studied the bloody spike he’d just pulled from the back of his shoulder. “They grow them back and can inject them in more than one person.” She said, pushing the hair away from the back of her neck to reveal other cuts and gashes. “I pulled mine out more than once, they just kept injecting another one in.” They both looked over as the old wooden door across the room opened, creaking eerily in the large open room.  
  
“Cas...” Dean started, watching as the angel walked in.  
  
Claire shook her head. “No, but if it morphed into him, then it had its hands on him.”  
  
“Smart girl.” The stranger replied with a smile as it morphed from Castiel back into its own form.


	6. Chapter 6

Sam looked up as the bathroom door opened and Krissy stepped out. “Hey take a seat, have something to eat.” He said with a smile.  
  
“Do those fit?” Jack asked, holding out a hamburger as the young woman took a seat on the foot of the bed next to him.  
  
“Yeah, it’s fine. Thank you.” She said with a smile, taking the burger from his hands as she watched Sam type away on his laptop and Castiel scan through files that cluttered the table between them. “Find anything?” She asked, pulling the other man’s attention away from his laptop screen.   
  
“A few things came up, but we think it may be some kind of Wraith-like creature, a hybrid maybe.” Sam started, turning the laptop over to show Krissy what he’d been looking at. “These things morph to blend in and they inject their victims with a detachable spike they use to feed on the human soul.”  
  
“Well that would explain why they wanted to keep me alive.” Krissy remarked, eyeing the old article Sam had found while digging into the lore. “I mean, they can’t feed on my soul if I’m dead right?” There was a moment of silence as she watched Sam glance across the table at Castiel. “What, what’s wrong?”  
  
The other man cleared his throat. “Krissy, Jack and I were at the morgue this morning to look at two Jane Doe’s found in the woods just outside of Scythe about a week ago. One of them was you.” He pulled the autopsy photo from the file in front of him, and passed it over to her.  
  
She didn’t know what to say as she looked at the photo, staring at her own dead body on a stainless steel table. She shook her head, the smirk creeping up to the corner of her lip as she looked up to catch Sam’s eyes. “The knife you used to get that thing out of my back, that was a silver blade wasn’t it?”  
  
“Guilty.” Sam replied with a smile. “Krissy, I thought you were done with hunting?”  
  
“I am.” She replied, passing the photo back to him. “Couple weeks ago I took a trip to go see an old friend. On the way back I was running low on gas, so I came into town to fuel up and grab a bite to eat. When I left that night, someone flagged me down so I pulled over... then a tow truck pulled up behind my car.” She paused for a moment as the memory flashed in the back of her mind. “Next thing I knew I was on the ground, I woke up in that cabin where you found me.”  
  
There was a moment of silence and Castiel grabbed a file from the table in front of him. “Have you seen this girl?” He asked, passing the photo of Claire to Krissy. “Her body was found alongside yours, with the same stab wound to the chest. If you’re still alive and the dead body was actually one of these Wraith things, then she may still be out there too.”   
  
Krissy studied the photograph for a moment before looking up to catch the angel’s eyes. “Yeah, she was locked up in the same room as I was... but she wasn’t there long before they took her somewhere else. They kept talking about how she was different, that there was something about her grace?”  
  
“Claire’s not an angel, she has no grace.” Sam was quick to reply, looking up across the table at Castiel. He was waiting for an affirmation, some kind of reply, but it was obvious by the blank stare that something had just crossed the angel’s mind. “Cas?”  
  
“Any human used as a vessel will retain residual grace from the angel that possessed them.” Castiel started, catching Sam’s eyes. “I’ve taken Claire as a vessel when she was younger, my grace would have left an imprint on her soul, like a permanent scar that won’t heal or fade away.”   
  
“Ok, so these things are feeding on human souls and whatever else is attached to them?” Sam asked.  
  
“When that thing that looked like Dean attacked you, you said something happened and it just let go?” Jack asked, watching as Castiel gave him a quick nod. “It’s possible that the residual grace this Wraith-like thing took from Dean’s soul is what caused the reaction... the power it drew was far too much for it to handle.” He paused for only a moment as everything started falling into place. “The wound you had.” He quietly started. “With Micheal’s grace behind that blade, the sheer power and force exerted would have been enough to cause that kind of damage.”  
  
Castiel swallowed hard as he thought back to the sudden jolt he’d received from the man that had him pinned to the wall. The revelations that suddenly started to trickle into the back of his mind were terrifying. “Archangel grace isn’t the only thing seared into Dean’s soul.” He said quietly his gaze drifting from Jack to Sam. “Dean’s soul has done time in Hell, it bore the Mark of Cain, it was twisted into a demon... even my grace left a mark when I pulled him from Hell." He paused for only a moment as Sam swore under his breath, the realization of what they were up against finally sinking in. “A human soul though fragile, has unimaginable power. Dean’s soul is covered in scars; and each and every one of these scars has its own source of power and energy.”  
  
“So if these things feed off his soul, they can tap into all these scars and draw power from them?” Sam asked passing a hand through his hair as Castiel gave him a nod. “We need to get him out there before they realize what they can do with him.”  
  
“Sam, with everything you’ve been through, your soul would be just as desirable to them as your brothers’ is.” The angel quietly started. “It may be in your best interest to sit this one...”   
  
“And yours isn’t?” Sam was quick to interrupt. “You’ve been human, you were Lucifer’s vessel once, you even absorbed all the souls of purgatory... you can’t tell me that didn’t leave a mark.”   
  
“I can’t risk having you fall prey to these things.” The angel continued, his gaze drifting over to Jack sitting at the foot of the bed with Krissy.   
  
“The risk is worth taking, Cas.” Sam replied, his stern tone of voice now echoing in the quiet room. “These things not only have Claire and Dean, but they’ve killed dozens of people in the past year alone, they might even have others locked up like Krissy was.” There was a moment of silence and Sam cleared his throat. “We’re losing daylight pretty fast, so I say we pack up and head out. Krissy you stay here and if we’re not back by morning, I want you to call this number.”  
  
She watched as he grabbed a pen from the table and tore a piece of paper from one of the files. “Yeah, no. I’m not staying here.” She said, shaking her head. “It sounds like you guys need all the help you can get and my soul’s the only one here without some kind of mark on it.”  
  


* * *

  
The tall man smiled as he made his way over to the pair sitting on the floor. “I guess the next one is going to go somewhere you can’t reach.” He said, eyeing the spike in Dean’s bloody hand.  
  
Dean tossed the spike he pulled from his skin to the floor at the stranger’s feet. “That’s disgusting.” He said, reaching over his other shoulder just to make sure there wasn’t a second one under his skin. “So what are you, some kind of parasite feeding on human souls?”  
  
“Everyone needs to eat.” The man replied simply, the smirk creeping up to the corner of his lips as he started to pace the floor.  
  
“So what’s the deal?” Dean continued, doing his best to come up with some kind of plan while he had one of the creatures in the room with them. “You latch onto a soul and feed off of it as long as you can? You take in just a bit at a time to let the person recover then you keep ‘em locked up till they give up, wither away and die?”   
  
The man offered no reply as he came to a stop and turned to face the pair sitting on the floor, handcuffs keeping them secured to a large pipe on the wall behind them. “When you came snooping around earlier, you had an angel with you... where is he?”  
  
Dean shook his head “What the Hell are you talking about, what angel?”  
  
“Don’t play dumb with me boy, that angel’s fingerprints are all over your soul.” The man replied, pausing just long enough to catch the young woman’s eyes. “They’re all over her soul too.”  
  
Dean glanced over at Claire for only a moment before turning his attention back to the man in front of them. “Seriously, what the Hell are you talking about?” He went on, his mind racing as he now desperately tried to come up with some kind of way out.  
  
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.” The man said with a smile as he leaned back against the table behind him. “Every soul has its own power, its own source of energy... but your soul, and hers.” He said, pointing to Claire. “Well they have a sliver of Grace in them, a scar left behind by that angel that came in here with you.”  
  
Claire swore under her breath as her chest suddenly tightened, her hands clenched into fists and she hunched over, the piercing pain leaving her breathless. As soon as it had hit her, it was gone and she straightened out, her eyes narrowing on the stranger. “Leave me alone.” She growled.  
  
“See when I first laid a hand on you, I thought I had found something special.” The man started, giving the young woman a sinister smile. “You’re soul had Grace in it, and that’s hard to come by... now more than ever.” It paused for only a moment as it caught Dean’s eyes. “Then you came along and your soul had not only Angel Grace, but Archangel Grace in it... among some other truly dark features. Now, I didn’t think it could get any better than that...”  
  
“Let me guess.” Dean cut in with a coy smile. “It did.”  
  
The man let out a chuckle that echoed eerily in the room. “You can’t even begin to understand the things we would be able to do with that source of power and pure grace.” Dean swallowed hard as he watched the man grab his gun from the table behind him. “I’m not going to ask you again.” He went on as he loaded the gun and straightened out. “Where’s the angel?”  
  
Dean shook his head, the fate of the world on his shoulders as he thought of the roles he, Sam, Cas and Jack were playing in God’s finale chapter. “I don’t know where he is.” He hissed, eyeing the gun now pointed directly at him.   
  
“His grace is in your soul.” The man started, his tone of voice dropping. “See, that tells me you’re important to him and that he will come looking for you, just like he came looking for her.” He paused for a moment to let those words sink in. “He is going to come back for you, the only difference is what shape he’s going to find you in when he get here.”  
  
“Well for your sake, I hope he doesn’t find me dead.” Dean growled. “Because you obviously have no idea what’s so ever what an Angel is actually capable of.”  
  
“The scars and residual grace on your soul have immense power, I have no intentions of wasting something so twisted and rare.” The man was quick to reply, his aim drifting slightly to the left. “Her on the other hand, well the sliver of grace in her soul is worth giving up if it’ll get me to the source.”  
  
Dean barely had time to turn away as the man pulled the trigger no more than five feet away from them. The sound of the gunshot echoing in the room as Claire let out a scream was something he knew he would never forget.  
  



	7. Chapter 7

Gathering the files from the table in front of him, Sam looked up as Castiel suddenly stood from his chair. “Cas?” He started, watching as the angel took a quick look at the room around them. “What’s wrong?”  
  
“We need to go, right now.” The angel replied as he caught the other man’s eyes.   
  
“Why what’s going on?” Sam continued glancing over to an equally confused Jack.  
  
“It’s Dean.” Castiel replied, the other man’s panicked voice still ringing in his ears. “He reached out to me like Claire did, something’s wrong.”  
  
Sam didn’t need to hear another word, he could tell by the look on the angel’s face that things had just suddenly gone from bad, to worse. “Ok, you and Jack take the truck, Krissy you’re coming with me.” He replied as he got to his feet and grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair.   
  
Castiel climbed behind the wheel of the truck as Jack made his way to the passenger side and Krissy and Sam got into the Impala. Sam had barely sat down behind the wheel of the car when he realized his brother still had the keys. “Wait, how’d you drive this over here without the keys?” He asked the woman beside him, watching as the truck sped off from the motel’s parking lot ahead of them.  
  
“The older they are, the easier they are to start without a key.” Krissy replied simply, leaning over the seat to grab wires hanging from the steering column.   
  
Sam leaned back to give her space and was surprised when the engine suddenly roared to life. “That’s impressive.” He said as he took a quick glance over. “Where’d you learn how to hotwire a car?”  
  
“Learned it on the job.” She replied with a smile as she straightened out.  
  
“On the job?” Sam asked, putting the car in reverse and backing out of his parking spot. “And what job would that be?” He continued, peeling out of the motel’s lot to catch up with Castiel and Jack.

“I work as a mechanic, in a garage that restores classic cars.” Krissy explained.  
  
Sam caught her eyes for only a moment before he turned his attention back to the road ahead. “So you really did get out of hunting.” He said with a smile.  
  


* * *

  
The moment of fear turned to anger as Dean watched Claire lean back against the wall behind her, her free hand now applying pressure to the gunshot wound in her outer thigh. “You son of bitch.” Dean snarled, struggling and pulling at the handcuff that was clamped around his wrist. He swore under his breath as the metal cuff started digging into his skin, not once giving him just another inch to slide his hand free of its grasp.  
  
The man let out a chuckle as he set the gun down on the table behind him. “Tell you what, how about I give you some time to cool down, then we’ll talk some more.” He said, watching as Dean’s eyes suddenly narrowed. “Maybe you’ll remember where the angel is... or maybe he’ll show up by then.”  
  
As the man walked away, Dean turned his attention back to the young woman on the floor beside him. “Just calm down, relax” He said, eyeing the blood that was seeping out around her fingers as she applied pressure to the wound.  
  
“Dean...” She breathed, wincing in pain as he reached over to place his free hand over hers in an attempt to stop the bleeding. She swallowed hard, desperately trying to calm her racing heart and not let the panic set in. She’d dealt with pain like this before, it was after all, just part of the job... but never had she felt so helpless. “What are we going to do?” She asked, her words coming out with a sob as the reality of the situation they were in hit hard.  
  
“Hey, look at me.” Dean started, his stern voice pulling her away from her scattered thoughts. “I need you to relax. I’ll think of something, I’ll get us out of here.” He said, taking a quick glance around for anything within his reach that he could use. “Keep pressure on there.” He went on, pulling his hand away from her to grab one of the bed sheets on the floor. He tore a strip from the edge and balled it up, pulling her hand away from the wound just long enough to place the sheet up against it. “I need you to hold that right there.” He said as he wiped her blood from his hands. Tearing a second strip of cloth he wrapped it around her leg to apply constant pressure while holding the makeshift bandage in place.  
  
She then watched as he undid his belt and pulled it out from around his waist, wrapping it around her upper leg like a tourniquet. When he looped the strap through the buckle and pulled to tighten it, she couldn’t help but swear under her breath.   
  
“Sorry kid...” Dean quietly replied, wrapping the belt around her leg a second time before securing it with a knot. “Ok, now we need to get out of here before that son of a bitch comes back.” He said, eyeing the table just out of reach where his jacket and gun were.  
  
“Here.” Claire started, reaching into the pocket of her jeans to pull out a hairpin. “I managed to hide this from them, but if they see you with it they’ll be here in a matter of minutes.”  
  
Dean took the hairpin from her hand and quickly bent it back. “I only need a few seconds.” He replied, quickly shoving the makeshift tool into the small keyhole. He fiddled around with it for only a moment before the lock unlatched and the handcuff released from around his battered wrist. Doing his best not to draw attention to himself, he turned towards Claire to block the camera’s view. Though he knew they were far from being out of trouble, he couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief when he heard the lock snap open and the handcuff unlatched from her wrist.

“Ok, we need to move.” He started as he got to his feet and grabbed his jacket from the table, slipping it on as he scanned the large open room for another way out. He tucked his gun away as he eyed a partially boarded door at the far end of the structure. “C’mon, you alright?” He asked as he reached down to help Claire get to her feet.  
  
“I’ve been better.” The young woman replied, faking a smile through the pain as she draped her arm around his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her waist to keep her standing.   
  
The pair made their way around the headframe’s derelict mining equipment and quickly slipped out of the backdoor into the night. With little more than moonlight to show them the way, they hurried to reach the tree line and disappeared into the surrounding forest. As far as they could tell, they hadn’t been seen but both knew it was just a matter of time before the creatures noticed they were missing. Stepping over rocks and fallen trees, they made their way further into to the woods to put some distance between them and the mine site. When Dean felt Claire stumble in her steps, he came to stop. “Are you alright?” He whispered, glancing back over his shoulder to see how far they had made it into the woods.  
  
“I just need a second.” She said quietly, the pain in her thigh spreading with each step she took. With Dean’s help, she took a seat at the base of a large tree to catch her breath. “You think they noticed?” She asked, trying to keep her mind distracted from the bullet wound in her leg. “That we’re gone?”  
  
“Not yet.” Dean was quick to reply, looking back at what he could see of the headframe through the trees. “If they did, we should be able to hide from them now.”  
  


* * *

  
Castiel pulled up to the large gate and put the truck in park, looking up in the rear view mirror as the Impala pulled up behind him. “Jack, I know all you want to do is help but I need you to promise me that whatever happens, you don’t use your powers.” He paused for only a moment as he caught the younger man’s eyes. “We can’t have Chuck know that you’re back, not until you’re strong enough to defeat him.”  
  
Jack swallowed hard, the decision a heavy one for him to make. “I can’t promise something like that.” He said quietly. “If something were to happen to you, or Sam, or Dean. Something I can prevent when we are so close...” He trailed off as the sight of Castiel’s wound flashed in the back of his head, a wound that would have proved fatal had he not intervened. “Don’t ask this of me, I need all of you.”  
  
Castiel offered a nod, knowing there was no way he would change the young man’s mind. “Alright, but only if it’s truly needed, you hear me?” He said as he stepped out and made his way around to the Impala.  
  
“Why not just have a second set of keys made?” Krissy asked, holding the flashlight as Sam picked the lock on the trunk of the Impala. When he paused to look back at her, she simply shrugged. “Just a thought.”  
  
When the latch unlocked and the trunk popped open, Sam instantly reached for what he knew would kill the creatures they were up against. He loaded a gun with silver bullets and passed it to Krissy, looking up as Castiel and Jack joined them. “Ok so we know silver works and that they can actually be killed.” Sam said, tucking his own gun away as he reached for an angel blade and passed a second one to Krissy.   
  
Walking around the large gate, the group made their way towards the clearing, their eyes scanning the darkness of night for any movement at all. “Dean and I went into the first mining camp on the right, that’s where we split up and I found Krissy.” Castiel explained, pointing out the large cabin nearby. “There’s a door at the front that was locked, and another one at the back.”

Sam studied the camp for a moment before turning to face the others. “Ok, here’s what we’re going to do.” He started, the grip on his angel blade tightening. “Cas and I are going to go check it out, the two of you are going to wait out of sight, in the tree line.”  
  
“You want us to hang back?” Krissy asked. “We can cover more ground if we split up.”

“I need you to make sure no one else goes into those cabins while we’re in there.” Sam replied as he caught her eyes. “You’ve got a good vantage point and a clear shot from the sidelines, if you see anyone move in on us, I want you to take a shot.”  
  
“What about me?” Jack asked. “What am I to do?”

“Jack I want you to watch her back, so she can keep both eyes on us.” Sam went on. “These things morph into anyone they touch and they do it fast, I need you to make sure no one gets near her.”

“How are we supposed to know that you’re you?” Jack started, watching as Castiel pulled out his angel blade. “I mean once we lose sight of you, one of those creatures could take your form... like the one that attacked you as Dean. How are we going to know that it’s you walking out of that cabin and not one of those things?”  
  
“When we come out, I’m going to aim my flashlight straight up.” Sam said, showing the pair what he would do to signal them. “You don’t see me do that, take the shot.”  
  


* * *

  
“You hear that?” Dean asked, listening intently as the faint sound of a motor drifted through the trees.   
  
“I don’t hear anything.” Claire quietly replied.  
  
Though distant, the familiar sound was the like a flickering light on a truly dark night . “That’s my Baby.” He said, instantly turning to the young woman sitting on the ground. “Sam & Cas must be out here looking for us, we’ve got to go.”

When he reached down to help her back to her feet, Claire shook her head. “I can’t.” She said simply, her voice tired and weak as the pain and fatigue started to take over. “Just go.”  
  
“I’m not leaving you out here.” Dean was quick to reply, reaching down to hoist her up to her feet. “Cas would kill me.”  
  
Though the words brought a smile to the corner of her lips, it wasn’t there long. She couldn’t help but swear under her breath when Dean draped her arm around his shoulder and then reached down to wrap his arm around the back of her legs, scooping her up into his arms. “You really going to carry me?” She asked, sucking in a sharp breath as he shifted her weight.  
  
“I will if I have to.” Dean replied as he started to make his way through the woods.  
  



	8. Chapter 8

Krissy glanced over her shoulder at Jack, as Sam and Castiel made their way to the cabin where she had been kept for weeks. “I don’t know about this.” She said as she tucked the angel blade away and pulled out the gun. “There’s way too many places for these things to hide and now one of them might be Dean, or Claire.”  
  
Sam paused at the bottom of the stairs, using his flashlight to illuminate the front door where Castiel had pulled the lock off earlier in the day. “There’s six rooms inside and I lost sight of Dean when I went into the room where I found Krissy.” Castiel explained, taking a quick look back at where Jack and Krissy waited by the tree line.  
  
Sam offered a nod, swallowing hard as he made his way up the front stairs, Castiel following him closely. Pushing the door open, he studied the main room for a moment before focusing down the long hall. The cabin was quiet, with the exception of the wind rushing past them and the door at the other end of the hall swaying in the soft breeze. “Ok, stay close.” Sam whispered as he led the way. With his angel blade in one hand and the flashlight in the other, Sam quickly made his way from one room to the other, glancing into each one as he reached it.  
  
“Krissy was in this one.” Castiel whispered, glancing ahead at the room where Dean had disappeared into. “This is as far as I got.” He said, his thoughts now drifting to the moment when Dean had attacked him and pinned him to the wall.  
  
Sam moved onto the next door and paused in the doorway as he caught sight of a man’s body on the beds. He swore under his breath as he took a few steps inside to get a better look. The man had been dead no more than a day and his body was covered in the same kind of marks as all the victims that had been found in the woods. Knowing there was nothing he could do for this man he quickly moved on to the last room, mixed emotions about not finding Dean anywhere in the first cabin.  
  


* * *

  
Krissy took aim as she and Jack watched Sam and Castiel emerge from the first cabin, breathing a sigh of relief when Sam gave her the signal they were looking for. “Ok, c’mon.” She said, following the tree line to get a better view at the second cabin Sam and Castiel were heading towards. As Krissy did her best to keep her focus on the pair in the dim light of the moon, she glanced over as Jack put a hand on her shoulder.  
  
“There.” He whispered, pointing to the far left. “Do you see that?” He asked, his eyes catching the movement of a person making their way across the clearing around various mining equipment that littered the site.  
  
“Yeah I see it.” She replied, swearing under her breath as Sam and Castiel disappeared into the second cabin and the person continued to approach from the left. “Jack, I don’t want to take a shot when we can’t even tell if that’s one of them or not...”  
  
“There’s another one.” Jack pointed out, his eyes now focusing on a second figure as it came into view from the right side. “And another one...” He continued, watching as a pair ducked down behind a piece of mining equipment. “That’s four of them.”  
  
Krissy felt her heart jump to her throat as she quickly weighted her options. Sam and Castiel were outnumbered and now trapped in the cabin, still unaware of the creatures moving in on them. Though she had a clear shot, there were too many of them to take out at once and too many places for them to hide from her gunfire. A gunshot would let Sam and Cas know something was wrong, but it would also give away her and Jack’s position. With the seconds ticking away and the creatures moving in fast, she swallowed hard and took aim. The gunshot echoed as the closest creature to the cabin fell to the ground, the sound causing the others to scatter and take cover. “C’mon, we gotta move.” She said as she retreated into the woods with Jack close behind. “We need to get ahead of them before they try to figure out where that shot came from.”  
  


* * *

  
Dean came to a stop as the sound of the gunshot echoed through the trees. They were far from the headframe where they had been kept and far from the cabins in the clearing where he had been attacked. He couldn’t see where the shot had come from, but he knew without a doubt that Sam, Castiel and Jack were out there looking for them. “I need you to stay awake.” He said to Claire, adjusting her weight in his arms as he kept moving towards the road. He couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of him but somehow knew where he was going. “We’re almost there.” He continued, his eyes catching the gleam of moonlight reflecting off the Impala through the darkness and trees ahead of him. “Just hang in there kid.”  
  


* * *

  
Inside the cabin, Sam and Castiel froze as the single gunshot outside pierced the silent night. They glanced at each other before both turned to face the open door they had just come through. “Get in the room, I want them to think I’m alone.” Sam said to Castiel, pointing him to one of the open doors as the sound of footsteps outside quickly approached. As he trained his flashlight on the door at the end of the hall and held his angel blade up to defend himself, Sam couldn’t help but let his mind wander. If Krissy had fired a shot, then the creatures knew they were no longer alone and there was no way for him to know just what, or who was about to come through that door.  
  
He was expecting to see one of them come in as Dean, but was taken by surprise when Krissy came running in. “Don’t move.” He growled, glancing over her shoulder at the open door behind her. “Stay where you are.”  
  
“What are you doing?” She started, doing what she could just to catch her breath. “There’s too many of them, they have us surrounded.” She took a step forward but paused as she eyed the angel blade in the other man’s hands. “You don’t trust me? You think I’m one of them?” She asked as she caught his eyes. “What the Hell?”  
  
Sam swallowed hard, unsure of what to do as he eyed the young woman in front of him. She looked like Krissy, but there was something about her that wasn’t sitting right with him. “Where’s Jack?”  
  
“Outside, waiting.” She was quick to reply, looking over her shoulder at the open door down the hall.  
  
“I told him to keep an eye on you.” Sam started, analyzing everything he could about the way she moved and spoke. “Jack never would have let you out of his sight, let alone come in here after us.” There was a moment of silence as he tucked the angel blade away and pulled out his gun instead. “Turn around, get on your knees.” He said, his stern tone of voice echoing in the hall.  
  
“Are you serious?”  
  
“On your knees.” Sam ordered, loading the gun when she didn’t obey. Their eyes met and Sam could have sworn he’d seen a smirk creep up to the corner of her lips as Castiel came through the door behind her. Knowing without a doubt that the angel was waiting in the room to his left, Sam didn’t hesitate pulling the trigger. He hit the creature square in the chest with a silver bullet and watched as it stumbled a few steps back but didn’t go down. He swore under his breath, going over everything he’d read about the Wraith-like creatures in his head as he tried to think of what they might have overlooked. “Silver bullets didn’t work Cas...” He called out, taking a step back as the woman took one forward.  
  
“You’re going to have to do better than that.” She said with a laugh as she closed what little distance there was left between them.  
  
Though he knew the silver bullet wouldn’t stop her, shooting her was the only thing he had time to do as she quickly moved in. Angel blade in hand, Castiel stepped out of the room as the woman forced Sam’s arm down with one hand and landed a punch to the jaw with the other. He pulled Sam to his side as he took a swing with his blade, slashing the woman across the face and pushing her back. “You alright?” He asked as Sam straightened out behind him.  
  
Sam tucked his gun away as reached for his angel blade. “Yeah I’m fine.” He replied, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. When he noticed the large gash across her face begin to close and heal, he couldn’t help but feel his heart hit the bottom of his stomach.   
  
“Pretty cool huh?” She said as she passed a hand over where the large gash had been.  
  
“What did you do to our friends?” Castiel started, his stern tone of voice pulling the young woman’s attention away from Sam. He watched as she took a quick glance at the man standing behind her, the man that was in all appearance his perfect match, and then turned to face him again.  
  
“I was hoping you’d show up.” She went on, switching from Krissy to Claire in the blink of an eye.  
  
Castiel’s grip on the blade tightened as the desperation in Claire’s voice circled in the back of his head. “Where is she.” He growled, the anger slowly building inside.  
  
“Tell me angel, how come your grace is all over her soul?” The woman asked, pulling out her own angel blade as the man behind her did the same. “See I’ve got one of those too, found it in her car.”

“Where is she!” Castiel shouted, his eyes narrowing on the woman in front of him.  
  
“Don’t worry, you’ll be joining her soon enough.” She said with a smile, switching from Claire to Dean before lashing out at him with the angel blade. Dodging the blow that was meant for his chest, Castiel took a step back to catch his balance, then took one forward to punch the creature in the face.   
  
Sam swore under his breath as he watched the creature that looked like Dean stumble back into the one that looked like Castiel. Though he was ready to put up a fight, he now doubted if they could in fact kill what they were up against. Silver bullets didn’t work and they could heal wounds inflicted by an angel blade. As 'Dean' straightened out, he reached over to grab the angel by the arm and forced him back into the room behind them.  
  
“Sam what are you doing?” Castiel demanded, watching as the other man shut the door and grabbed a nearby chair to wedge under the doorknob.  
  
“We don’t know how to kill these things.” The young hunter replied as he pointed to the closed door behind him. “I get that you’re angry and you want answers, but until we find a sure way to kill them, the odds are against us!”  
  
“So your solution is to barricade ourselves in here?” Castiel replied, the creatures outside now pounding against the door to get in. “Krissy and Jack are still out there!”  
  
“Krissy and Jack have more places to hide than we do right now.” Sam said, passing a hand through his hair. “I don’t know what else to do Cas, but silver won’t kill them and I don't think that angel blade will either."  
  


* * *

  
Dean let out a sigh of relief as he finally reached the Impala. He made his way to the back and leaned in close to reach the door handle while still carrying Claire in his arms. “Stay with me...” He said, carefully setting her down in the back seat.  
  
She winced in pain as he moved her into a sitting position. “I’m alright.” She whispered, her eyes closing as she leaned back into the well worn leather seat.  
  
Still trying to figure out where the gunshots had come from, Dean nervously eyed the cabins in the clearing before turning to face the woman in the backseat of his car. He was caught between getting her the help he knew she desperately needed, and getting a hold of his brother to tell him what they were up against. He swallowed hard, reaching into his pocket to pull out his cell phone as he knelt down in front of Claire. He punched down his brother’s number and impatiently waited for the other line to pick up. “C’mon Sammy...”


	9. Chapter 9

Krissy paused behind a tree as she eyed the second cabin carefully. “Did you see them come out?” She asked, still trying to catch her breath.  
  
Glancing at the woods around them, Jack shook his head. “No.” He replied as he turned his attention back towards the cabin Sam and Castiel had ducked into. “But I think two of those things went in after them.”  
  
Krissy swore under her breath as she scanned the darkness for any movement among the machinery in the clearing. “How many did you see?”   
  
“I saw four of them.” Jack was quick to reply, his eyes focusing on a shadow cast alongside a steel drum.  
  
“OK I also counted four.” Krissy replied, taking aim at the shadowy figure Jack had just pointed out. When she saw it stand, she pulled the trigger to stop it dead in its tracks. “So there’s two dead and two inside the cabin... we need to get down there.”  
  


* * *

  
“C’mon Sam...” Dean whispered as stood up, leaning back against the car behind him.  
  
 _“Dean?”_ Sam started, both surprised and relieved to hear his older brother’s voice. _“Where are you?”  
  
_ “I’m at the car and I’ve got Claire with me.” Dean replied, looking over at the woman slumped in the back seat. “Sammy listen to me, you guys need to get out of there, these things can look like anyone.”  
  
 _“Yeah, we got that.”_ Sam cut in as he started to pace the small room, the pounding against the door now a constant reminder that he and Castiel were trapped. _“Cas and I are in one of the cabins, there’s two of them after us and...”_ He trailed off as he swallowed the lump caught in his throat, doing what he could not to let the fear and panic surface in his voice. _“Dean, I don’t know what to do. Silver bullets hardly slowed them down and they can heal wounds made with an angel blade, we don’t know how to kill them.”  
_  
“It healed an angel blade wound?” Dean asked, unsure if he’d heard his brother right the first time around.  
  
 _“Yes!”_ Sam replied, looking over as Castiel put his weight against the door to keep the chair from sliding along the floor. _“Dean, that’s all we’ve got!”  
  
_ Dean swore under his breath as he tried to figure out what to do next. He could hear the creatures pounding against the door over the phone and he could hear the fear in his little brother’s voice. “Keep fighting them off, I’ll come find you.” He said as he hung up the phone and placed it on the roof of the car.  
  
“Dean you need to get this out.” Claire whispered, straightening out the best she could as he turned to face her. “They’re still feeding on my soul.” She said, lifting the bottom of her shirt to reveal the large gash she’d shown him earlier. “They’re using the grace to heal their wounds… the ones I killed weren’t feeding off grace.”  
  
The thought had never even crossed his mind. “They’re using the angel grace to heal themselves?” Dean asked as he caught the woman’s eyes.  
  
She nodded, wincing in pain as another shockwave chorused through her body. “You need to get the barb out.”  
  
“Damn it.” Dean growled as he fished the keys from his pocket. His mind was racing as he hurried to open the trunk and rifled through its contents for a flashlight and first aid kit. Carving out a three inch spike from the injured and weak woman in the dark, out in the middle of nowhere wasn’t exactly something he was prepared for. He grabbed a pair of tweezers and the sharpest knife he could find before shutting the trunk and placing everything he thought he might need on top of it. “OK, come here.” He said as he made his way back to the open door and reached into the back seat to pull the young woman out.  
  
Claire couldn’t help but groan as he walked her to the back of the Impala. Every move she made was painful and with the creatures now continuously feeding on her soul and the residual grace within it, every breath was a struggle to take. She put a hand out behind her as Dean pushed her up onto the trunk of the car. Leaning back on one elbow, she lifted the bottom corner of her shirt as Dean tucked his flashlight against his shoulder and neck.  
  
Dean grabbed the blade from the trunk of the car beside her and swallowed hard, his mind drifting back to his time spent torturing souls in Hell. Though it had happened so long ago, the memories were still there and every once in a while they came back to haunt him.  
  
“Dean, what’s wrong?” Claire asked, her voice instantly pulling him back to the moment they were in. “You need to get it out.”  
  
“Right, ok…” His grip on the blade tightened as he reached out to press the tip against her skin. He’d dug bullets and glass among other things out of his own flesh before and had done the same to Sam, but this was different and this was hard for him to deal with. She cringed and tensed up as the blade hit the barb, causing it to move under the skin, he paused. “You ok?” He asked putting a hand against the slit he’d just made to keep her steady. When she gave him a nod he made another pass with the blade, cutting along the length of the spike. Setting the knife down he grabbed the tweezers and adjusted the flashlight to get a better look at the swollen, infected wound he’d just opened up. He spread the gash with his fingers as he reached into it with the tweezers, swallowing hard when she sucked in a breath. “You’re doing great kid, almost got it…” He whispered, grabbing the spike with the tweezers and gently pulling it out.  
  
Claire let out a sigh of relief when he set the barb down on the trunk beside her. “There’s another one, in my back.” She said, watching as he quickly unrolled a bandage and pressed it up to the wound in her abdomen. He used a piece of tape to hold it in place then wiped her blood from his hands with a handkerchief from his coat pocket.   
  
Dean watched as she turned slightly, the pain and discomfort clearly visible on her face. “Where?”  
  
“Top left shoulder.” She said quietly, now fighting just to stay conscious.  
  
Dean adjusted the flashlight again and pulled the collar of her shirt to the side to reveal another infected wound in the back of her shoulder. It was almost the same place as where he’d pulled out the barb that had been imbedded in his own skin. Grabbing the blade from the trunk he quickly cut a slit to expose the end of the spike and then reached for the tweezers to pull it out. She tensed up again and he couldn’t help but notice just how warm her skin felt to the touch. Shock was beginning to set in as adrenaline plunged and pain slowly took over, he knew it was only a matter of time before she’d crash. “I need you to stay with me sweatheart” He started, settling the barb down and reaching for a bandage. When he didn’t get a reply, he swallowed hard. “Claire.” He growled, quickly dressing the wound and setting the flashlight down.  
  
“I’m alright.” She whispered, her voice now barely above a whisper. “I’m alright...”  
  
Dean wiped the blood from his hands and pulled his jacket off to drape it over her shoulders. “I’ve got ya.” He said as he pulled her off the trunk of the Impala and carried her over to the backseat. He set her down in the car and swore under his breath as she simply slumped down where he put her. “Claire” He said, reaching out to place a hand against her neck, his fingers now searching for a pulse. It was weak, but it was there. While that was some comfort to Dean, he knew she’d already lost a lot of blood and she was weak after having fought so long just to keep it all together. “Just hang in there.” He said as he got to his feet and grabbed his cell phone, his gaze drifting through the trees at the cabins in the clearing.  
  


* * *

  
Sam grabbed his cell phone the moment it rang. “Dean where are you man?” He asked, putting his weight against the door alongside Castiel to keep it shut. “They’re trying to break down the damn door just to get in here, Jack and...”

_“Sammy I need you to listen to me.”_ Dean calmly started, cutting the other man short. _“You should be able to kill them now, silver bullets should be enough to take them out.”_  
  
“What? Dean we already tried that, it didn’t work!” Sam snapped back.  
  
 _“It should now.”_ Dean was quick to reply, swallowing hard as he looked down at the woman curled up in the backseat of his car. “I need you to trust me.”   
“You sure this is going to work?” Sam asked, catching Castiel’s eyes for only a moment as he pulled out his gun and chambered a round.  
  
 _“Yes.”_ He said, shutting the Impala’s door. _  
_  
Sam tucked the phone away as he stepped back from the door and took aim. “Let’em in.” He said, his grip on the pistol tightening. Castiel shook his head as he braced himself against the door, surely questioning the decision. “Dean said silver should work now.”  
  
Their eyes met and the angel hesitated for only a moment. “Then for his sake, I hope he’s right.” Castiel replied, kicking the chair out from under the door knob as he backed out of Sam’s way. He reached for his angel blade as the door swung open and smashed into the wall with a thundering crash.   
  
Shooting someone that looked like a carbon copy of his older brother was disconcerting to say the least, but when the first man barged through the door, instinct kicked in and Sam pulled the trigger back. The feeling of dread instantly vanished as he watched the first creature go down and took aim at the second; firing another round before the sound of the first finished echoing in the room. He sucked in a breath, frozen in place as he eyed the bodies of _‘Dean’_ and _‘Castiel’_ on the floor in the doorway. “Whatever he did, it worked.” He said, looking up as Castiel made his way over to where the creatures lay dead.  
  
When the sound of footsteps approaching on the old floor suddenly caught their attention, Castiel backed away from the door as Sam took aim once again.   
  


* * *

  
Krissy put a hand out to stop Jack from taking another step. The commotion they’d been hearing from outside had stopped with the sound of two gunshots and the silence that now filled the dark cabin was somewhat unsettling. “Sam?” She called out, holding the gun out in front of her as she eyed an open door down the hall.   
  
“These things, they can’t hurt me like they can hurt you.” Jack whispered as he inched his way past her. “I’ll go first.” Before she could say anything, Jack quietly started making his way down the hall towards the open door, pausing only as he got close enough to see someone lying on the floor. “Sam? Cas?” He called out, glancing over his shoulder as Krissy came to a stop beside him.  
  
Inside the small room, Sam and Castiel took a quick glance at each other. “How do we know you’re not one of them?” Sam replied, waiting for someone to come into view.  
  
“How do we know you’re not?” Krissy called back, her eyes now locked on the two bodies in the doorway.  
  
“Kelly” Jack said with a smile, “Her name was Kelly Kline.”  
  
“What are you talking about?” Krissy asked, her eyes catching Jack’s for only a moment as he gave her a smile and headed for the door.   
  
Castiel reached out to pull Sam’s arm down as Jack turned the corner, eyeing the creatures on the floor as he made his way towards the pair. “It’s them.” He said as he reached out to place a hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “I asked him something those creatures wouldn’t know, in prayer.”  
  
Sam let out a sigh of relief as Krissy followed, her eyes also focused on the two men dead on the floor. “We heard shots outside just before they showed up.” He started as she looked up to catch his eyes. “You guys alright?”  
  
“We’re fine.” She was quick to reply, offering a nod as she glanced around the room much like the one she had been kept in. “We need to get out of here and go find Dean.”  


* * *

  
Dean watched through the trees as flashlights came into view, he’d been waiting on pins and needles since he’d heard the gunshots echo in the night. “That you Sammy?” He called out as the small group approached the barricade in the road.  
  
“Dean, whatever you did worked.” The other man called back, relieved to hear his older brother’s voice.  
  
“I told you to trust me.” Dean replied, tucking his gun away as he emerged from the tree line. “You alright?” He asked, their eyes meeting for only a moment before his gaze drifted over to the young woman standing at Jack’s side. “Krissy?”  
  
“Hey Dean, small world huh?” She replied with a smile as she made her way over to him for a hug. “It’s been a while.”  
  
“I found her in the cabin when we split up, when those creatures took you.” Castiel explained. As he watched Dean wrap an arm around Krissy to pull her into a hug, he couldn’t help but notice the gashes around his wrist. “You’re injured.” He remarked, reaching out to get a better look at the other man’s hand.  
  
Dean swallowed hard as he quickly pulled away, the confusion clearly visible on the angel’s face. “I’ll live.” He quietly replied, the words suddenly catching in the back of his throat.  
  
“Dean, your wrist is sliced up pretty bad.” Sam went on, his flashlight now focused on the gouges and bruises around his older brothers wrist, the same kind of markings he’d seen in the victim autopsy photos. “You’re covered in blood and...”  
  
“It’s not my blood, Sammy.” Dean quietly replied, his voice dropping as his gaze drifting from Sam to Castiel. “Cas I’m sorry.” He went on, his heart hitting the bottom of his stomach as he reached behind him to pull the Impala’s back door open.


	10. Conclusion

Sam swore under his breath as he eyed the young woman curled up in the back seat of the car, his older brother’s jacket wrapped around her like a blanket. “Is she...” He trailed off as Castiel brushed past him to crouch down in front of her in the open door.  
  
“She’s alive, but she’s not doing well.” Dean started, watching as the angel gently pulled away the jacket to get a better look at the young woman slumped over on the leather seat. “Those things shot her because I wouldn’t tell them where you were, it’s the grace in her soul they were after.” He paused as his mind flashed back to the moment he realised that he’d have to carve out the spikes left under Claire’s skin. “They were using barbs to feed on the residual grace in her soul, using it to heal their wounds.”  
  
“Which is why we couldn’t kill them.” Sam concluded, noticing the bloody knife and first aid kit that still lay open on the trunk of the car. Using his flashlight to illuminate the scene, his eyes now focused on two bloody spikes, much like the one he’d removed from Krissy’s back earlier in the day.  
  
“I had to get them out.” Dean said quietly, looking down at the blood on his hands. “It was the only way those things could be killed, they needed to be cut off from the grace in her soul.”  
  
“I shot and killed two of them in the clearing, before Jack and I entered the cabin.” Krissy said, still trying to understand the creatures that had kept her locked up for weeks.

“Those two must not have been feeding on grace.” Sam replied, watching as Castiel reached out to push Claire’s hair away from her face. He glanced up as Dean turned away, the sight of the angel looking over the young woman clearly a hard one for his older brother to handle. “Dean?” He quietly started, catching his eyes as the other man glanced back over his shoulder. “You did everything you could.”  
  
Dean swallowed hard as he offered his younger brother a quick nod. Sam always did seem to know what he needed to hear, but hearing it didn’t make it any easier for him to deal with.  
  
“I can help.” Jack started, eyeing the woman’s injuries from over the angel’s shoulder. “I can heal these wounds just like I healed yours.”

Castiel shook his head. “No, we can’t risk having you use your powers. We can’t risk Chuck finding out that you’re back in the game.” He said quietly, taking a deep breath as he reached out to place a hand against Claire’s face. “I can fix this.”  
  
Jack took a step forward but froze as Sam reached out to place a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from making his way over to the Impala. “Cas, you’re not as strong as you once were...”  
  
“I’m strong enough.” Castiel replied simply.  
  
Dean’s heart sank like a stone as he watched the angel’s eyes close. He knew what shape the young woman was in and feared the toll it would take on Castiel to repair that kind of damage. The angel had healed many of his wounds before, but the concentration it took often left him weak and drained. Jack was right, Castiel wasn’t as strong as he once was, but Dean knew he was ready and willing to do anything for Claire.  
  
Castiel reached out to grab the seat as the surge of grace burned through him, draining him of energy as he concentrated on healing her wounds. His head was spinning, her desperate plea for help circling in the back of his mind as he gave it everything he had. By the time her eyes opened, he was struggling just to breathe. He braced himself against the car door and felt Dean’s hand grab him by the arm to keep him from collapsing. It took a moment for everything to come back into focus, but when it did, he caught her eyes. “Are you alright?” He asked quietly, reaching out to untie the belt Dean had used as a tourniquet around her leg.  
  
Claire nodded as she watched Dean help the angel get up. The last thing she remembered was the hunter draping his jacket over her shoulders as he slid her off the trunk of the Impala, everything after that was a blur. The moment Castiel straightened out, she was on her feet with her arms wrapped around him. “I’m fine.” She quietly replied.  
  
“What about you, Cas?” Sam asked as Castiel pulled away from Claire and turned to his older brother.  
  
“I’ll be alright.” The angel replied simply as he reached out to grasp the other man’s hand.  
  
Dean winced as Castiel turned his hand over to examine the gouges that wrapped around his wrist. Now that Claire was fine and they were out of harm’s way, the pain he’d been ignoring was beginning to surface. “Its fine Cas.” He started, catching the angel’s eyes for only a moment before Castiel focused on his bloody wrist and the damage he’d inflicted on himself while trying to slip through the handcuff. Dean knew there was nothing he could say that would deter Castiel from tending to the wound he’d caused while trying to save the woman they’d set out to find. In an instant, the pain was gone and so were the deep gouges in his skin. “Thanks Cas.”  
  
“Well he’s handy to have around.” Krissy said, still trying to wrap her head around the idea of angels hiding in plain sight.  
  
“Krissy, this is Claire.” Sam started, his mind drifting back to the bodies he’d seen earlier at the morgue. “Claire, this is Krissy.” He continued. “The night you were attacked, you killed one of these creatures that looked like her, and then the other that morphed into you... Am I right?”  
  
Claire nodded. “Yeah, that’s right.” She said as she offered Krissy a smile. “So what are we supposed to do now?” She asked as her gaze drifted back towards the cabins in the clearing.“For all we know, there might still be other victims locked up.”  
  
“Not to mention at least four bodies, one of which looks like you.” Krissy added as she pointed to Dean. “And another that looks just like you.” She continued as she pointed towards Castiel.  
  
“There’s also a field full cars that I assume belong to all these missing people.” Dean said, pointing off to the overgrown field where he and Castiel had found the young woman’s abandoned car. “These sons of bitches sure made a mess.” He continued, grabbing his jacket from the backseat of the Impala and passing it to Claire. “I say we do a walkthrough to make sure no one else is locked up.”  
  
“Right, and get rid of the two bodies that look like you and Cas.” Sam said as he caught his older brother’s eyes. “Once we load those two in the box of the truck, I’ll call the Sheriff and let him deal with the rest.”  
  
“What are you going to tell the Sheriff?” Jack asked, watching as Dean made his way around to the back of the Impala.  
  
“That we found some kind of cult?” Sam suggested, eyeing the large chain and lock that hung from the gate. “Dean, you have bolt cutters?” He asked, turning to watch as his older brother opened the trunk and tossed the first aid kit inside.  
  
“Yeah.” Dean replied simply, reaching in to grab what his brother had asked for. Handing them over, he watched as Sam made his way back to the gate and Jack followed with a flashlight. Cutting the lock, Sam pulled the chain off and unlatched the large gate, pushing it open.  
  
“Here, why don’t you drive the truck in.” Castiel suggested, pulling the keys from his pocket as Jack made his way back over. “I’ll catch up.” Jack couldn’t help but smile as he took the keys from Castiel’s hand and made his way around to the driver’s seat.  
  
“Everything alright?” Dean called back, looking over to catch the angel’s eyes as Sam shut the Impala’s trunk and climbed into the passenger seat.

Castiel smiled. “Yes.” He replied simply, reaching over to open the passenger door of the truck for Krissy to get in. “Everything’s fine.”  
  
Dean gave him a nod as he got in the Impala and put the key in the ignition, looking up in the rear view mirror for a moment as Claire leaned into the angel for a hug. “Hey Sammy?” He asked as he put the car in drive and followed Jack down the road to the cabins in the clearing. “How’d you start the car without a key?”  
  
Sam hesitated for a moment. “I didn’t.” He replied, clearing his throat. “Krissy hotwired it.”   
  
“I’m sorry, Krissy did what?” Dean asked, his gaze drifting over to the man sitting in the seat next to him.

“She hotwired it.” Sam repeated, doing his best to keep a straight face as he watched Dean reach down the base of the steering column. “She did it to bring Castiel back to the motel and getting him there saved his life, so you should be thanking her.”  
  
Dean swore under his breath as he grabbed a handful of loose wires sticking out from under the steering wheel. “It’s alright, Baby.” He whispered, his eyes now catching the smirk on his brother’s face. “This isn’t funny Sam, no one messes with my car... I feel so violated.”

* * *

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Claire asked, pulling Dean’s jacket closed against the wind.  
  
“Yes.” The angel replied, looking over to catch the young woman’s eyes. “I’m just glad you’re ok.” He went on as they started walking towards the cabins to join the others. “It’s just, when I heard your prayer... the pain, the fear, the desperation, I could feel it in my soul and I just, I don’t know what I would have done if...” He trailed off as she reached out to grab his hand. Even though he knew she was safe, the worst case scenarios were still playing out in the back of his head. “Promise me you’ll be more careful, call for help when you need it.”  
  
“I know this scared you and I’m sorry.” Claire said softly, knowing all too well that the angel would always consider her his responsibility. “But the risks are just part of the job, right?”  
  
There was a moment of silence and Castiel couldn’t help but swallow hard. Claire was a hunter because of him. The choices she’d made that led her down the road she was on, could all be traced back to the day he’d asked her father for consent to be used as a vessel. The ripple he’d caused in her life was one he could never fix, just like the one he’d caused in Dean’s, when he pulled the hunter’s soul from the depths of Hell. “I just want you to be safe, I want you to be happy.” He said quietly, his hand squeezing hers. “You should go home for a few days, Jody’s worried.”  
  
“I know she is.” Claire replied as she took a deep breath. “I just don’t know what to say, after everything that happened with Kaia...”  
  
“What happened with Kaia wasn’t your fault, you shouldn’t blame yourself for that.” The angel started, watching as the truck pulled up to the first cabin and the Impala pulled up behind it. “You should accept that, and forgive yourself for whatever it is you believe you’ve done wrong.”  
  
When he let go of her hand to rest his arm across her shoulders instead, Claire couldn’t help lean into him. “Thanks, Cas.”   
Approaching the cabins in the clearing, they watched as Dean got out of the Impala and immediately made his way over to Krissy. Though the night was quiet, they couldn’t hear the conversation over the sound of the Impala’s idling engine. Dean was pointing back towards the car; his hands gesturing who knows what, as Krissy stood arms crossed and unfazed in front of him... much to Jack’s confusion and Sam’s amusement.  
  
“I wonder what that’s about?” Claire asked.  
  
“She stole his car, to take me back to Sam and Jack when those things took him... I assume he was just made aware.” Castiel replied, the conversation getting clearer as they joined the rest of the group.  
  
“I could have jammed a knife in the ignition to get it started.” Krissy replied unapologetically. “Would that have been better?”  
  
There was a moment of silence as Dean took a quick glance over his shoulder to catch the approaching angel’s eyes. “I’m going t let this one slide because you saved his life.” He replied, turning his attention back to the woman in front of him. “Don’t do it again.” He growled, the smirk creeping up to the corner of his lips as she straightened out to size him up.  
  
“Can we just get this over with and get out of here?” Sam interrupted as he grabbed a flashlight from the trunk. “We have cabins to search and bodies to get rid of before calling it a night.”  
  
“Right, ok Sam and I are going to load the bodies into the back of the truck.” Dean started as he grabbed a gun from the Impala’s trunk and checked to see if it was loaded. “The rest of you are going to search the cabins for any other victims.” He went on, passing the gun to Claire.  
  
“I don’t think there’s any more of those things out there, but we know they can morph into anyone, so stick together.” He said, watching as Castiel pulled out his angel blade. “Don’t split up.”  
  
“Hey Dean.” Krissy started, turning to face him as he pulled the keys from the ignition and straightened out. “Your car’s also got a slight misfire when you step on it, you might want to have a look for a cracked spark plug.” She said, flashing him a quick smile before following Castiel, Claire and Jack up the front steps of the first cabin.

“Can you even reach the pedals?” Dean called back as he watched the group disappear into the first cabin. “Or see over the steering wheel for that matter...” He muttered under his breath, catching his brother’s eyes for only a moment as the pair made their way towards the cabin where two of the creatures lay dead.  
  
“Face it Dean, I’m pretty sure she knows as much about your car as you do.” Sam said with a chuckle.  
  
Dean shook his head. “Kid wasn’t even born when Baby was built.”  
  
“Neither were you.” Sam was quick to reply.  
  
“Dude, shut up.”  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
